Papa John's Trophy: Joe Gelhardt scores twice in Leeds U21s' win at Tranmere
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Joe Gelhardt celebrates scoring Leeds' third goal in their win at Tranmere
Joe Gelhardt scored twice as Leeds United Under-21s started their Papa John's Trophy campaign by winning an eight-goal thriller at Tranmere.
Goals from Paul Lewis and Rhys Hughes saw the League Two side race into a two-goal lead.
But Leeds turned the game on its head with three goals in five minutes as Sonny Perkins pulled one back before Gelhardt, who has made five Premier League appearances this season, scored twice in three minutes.
Neill Byrne levelled in first-half stoppage time to make it 3-3 at the break before Leeds eased in front with goals from Mateo Fernandez and Cody Drameh.
Leeds had Sam Greenwood sent off with 21 minutes left but the Premier League side's youngsters held on for a 5-3 victory.
Manchester United Under-21s are through to the knockout stages after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Barrow thanks to a 92nd-minute penalty from Alejandro Garnacho, who has made three senior appearances this season.
Chelsea's youngsters also kept their hopes of progressing alive by coming from behind to win 2-1 at Oxford with late goals from Mason Burstow and Lewis Hall.
Leicester and Everton's under-21s both won penalty shootouts 4-2 to earn two points and stay in with a chance of qualifying from their respective groups.
The Foxes came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Bradford to force spot-kicks, while Everton were held 1-1 at Harrogate.
Otherwise, it was a disappointing night for the young Premier League teams as West Ham, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Aston Villa were all beaten.
Exeter, who saw manager Matt Taylor leave to take over at Championship side Rotherham on Tuesday, came from behind to beat the Saints 2-1 thanks to goals from Matt Jay and Kegs Chauke and keep their hopes of qualification alive.
The Hammers were beaten 2-0 at MK Dons by a Matthew Dennis brace, while Palace went down by the same score at a Bristol Rovers side who had veteran midfielder Glenn Whelan sent off late on.
Meanwhile, Brighton are out after losing 3-2 at Gillingham. The Seagulls led 2-1 going into the final 20 minutes but Lewis Walker grabbed his second of the game to level before Will Wright claimed the winner.
Villa's under-21s are out too after being thrashed 5-0 at Portsmouth, for whom Josh Koroma scored twice.
Elsewhere, John Akinde's 91st-minute goal earned Colchester a 2-1 win over Charlton - Matt Bloomfield's first victory in charge of the U's - while Mansfield drew 1-1 with Derby.
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